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In dulci jubilo, BWV729

Recordings

'A magnificent addition to both the Bach repertoire and Angela Hewitt's artistically unparallelled survey of Bach's keyboard compositions' (Fanfare, USA)'A collection of rarities and oddities that makes for enjoyable listening. The quality of the Hyperion recording is excellent, with the right balance ...» More

In 1931 the pianist and muse Harriet Cohen invited all her principal composer friends each to make an arrangement of a work by J S Bach for inclusion in an album to be published by Oxford University Press. Published as A Bach Book for Harriet Cohe ...» More

'This set marks a significant addition to the Christopher Herrick Bach archive and is a further manifestation of the happy collaboration between the a ...'Hugely rewarding playing of the highest order' (The Scotsman)» More

'Let me say without hesitation that Herrick’s performances are models of clarity, accuracy, precision and musicality … this is a complete Bach th ...'Herrick is one of the few organists who does justice to these difficult, elusive pieces … What a singular joy to hear the organ played with such ...» More

Details

This piece is by Lord Berners (born in 1883 with the name Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson; died in 1950). He was the son of a naval officer who served as a diplomat from 1909 to 1920. Due to his sense of humour, and for the fact that he both painted and composed at the same time, he became known as the ‘English Satie’. His contribution to the Bach Book is a transcription of a chorale prelude for organ, In dulci jubilo, BWV729. This is not the one of the same name from the Orgelbüchlein, but rather a separate work that was probably written in Bach’s Weimar period. It shows another use for the chorale prelude – one in which the organist extemporizes brief interludes between the lines of the hymn. It must have been confusing for the congregation at times to hear a familiar tune bathed in such florid and brilliant goings-on as we have here! In the 1930s the piece was introduced as the Postlude of the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, by the then organ scholar Douglas Guest – a tradition that continues to this day. Lord Berners really doesn’t fiddle about much with the original at all – only a few bass notes are added to fill out the pedal part. Both the words and tune are medieval: